Now we’re sending troops to Somalia and South Sudan
370 to help in fight against Islamist terrorists
HUNDREDS of British troops are to be deployed to East Africa to help counter Islamist extremists and help UN peacekeepers, David Cameron announced last night.
A group of 70 Armed Forces personnel will go to Somalia, where African Union forces are fighting jihadis from Al Shabaab. A second force of up to 300 is to go to South Sudan, the world’s youngest country where a civil war has been raging for two years.
Downing Street officials insisted they would not take a ‘front-line’ role i n either conflict but would be involved in training and logistical support for peacekeepers, as well as providing engineering expertise.
Mr Cameron defended the move last night, insisting that joining peacekeeping operations would help bring ‘security and stability’ to the region – and ultimately make Britain safer. He also claimed that helping resolve conflicts would mean ‘less migration’ to Europe.
The PM also said Britain would take ‘very great care to ensure the security and safety of our troops’.
But the new deployments inevitably raise questions about whether Britain’s military should be deployed in war zones thousands of miles from home, on a mission many will see as extremely vague.
Mr Cameron will make the formal announcement today alongside President Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at the UN General Assembly in New York.
He said: ‘Our commitment to peacekeeping operations will help to alleviate serious humanitarian and security issues in Somalia and South Sudan, helping to bring stability to the region and preventing these challenges from spreading.
‘ These are peacekeepers. Britain has for many, many years, supported peacekeeping operations and taken part in peace-keeping operations. Let me stress that obviously we will want to see all the right force protection arrangements to be in place. But we should be playing a part in this.
‘What happens in the outcome in Somalia, if it’s a good outcome, that’s good for Britain – it means l ess migration, l ess piracy and ditto South Sudan. If we can, as peacekeepers, help to maintain order and peace and see stable development in that country then that’s going to be again less poverty, less migration, less issues that affect us back at home.
‘So it’s right that we’re stepping up and playing a greater role. We’re able to do this because of the resources that we have. But we’ll take very great care to ensure the security and safety of our troops.’
Somali forces and 18,000 African Union peacekeepers are fighting Al Shabaab terrorists. Only weeks ago, 12 Ugandan soldiers were killed in an attack on an African Union base.
BILLIONS of pounds from Britain’s ballooning aid budget will be spent on helping Third World countries cope with climate change and adopt ‘green energy’, it was revealed last night. David Cameron announced a 50 per cent increase in the amount of aid spending on the initiative, taking the total to £5.8billion over five years.
That is the equivalent of the annual budget of the Ministry of Justice.
In a decade Britain will have committed nearly £10billion – at a time of major cuts to public services at home. Half the money goes to encouraging poor countries to use green technology.
The remaining cash will help countries prepare for the impact of climate change, such as building sea walls or money for farmers to help them protect their crops against flood or drought.
The scale of the spending was laid out as the Prime Minister flew to New York for a meeting of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.
There, he will parade Britain’s success in meeting its target for aid spending – at present £12billion a year and set to increase every year of the next Parliament – and urge other countries to match the target of 0.7 per cent of national income.
It comes ahead of another major summit in Paris in November at which countries will negotiate a new climate change deal.
The announcement yesterday commits £5.8billion from the aid budget to t he I nternational Climate Fund between April 2016 and March 2021. It will take the total expected spending over a decade to £9.67billion.
It comes ahead of an extremely tight spending review in which the budgets of major departments including the Home Office will be slashed by 20 per cent or more.
That could mean sharp cuts in spending on England’s prisons system and policing and UK border controls, further exposing the largesse heaped on aid spending.
The new money is yet to be allocated, but a report in 2014 gave examples of how it had been used, including a £100million forestry initiative in countries that included Brazil, which now has the seventh largest economy in the world.
Speaking ahead of the UN meeting, the Prime Minister said he wanted to tackle both extreme poverty and climate change.
‘We can’t end poverty and pro- mote sustainable development without addressing climate change,’ he added.
‘The UK is determined to play its part, not j ust by cutting our emissions at home but by providing support overseas to those who need it, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.
‘That’s why we will increase the amount of aid we spend on climate finance over the next five years, helping communities around the world become more resilient to flooding and drought and providing clean, reliable energy.
‘That energy not only keeps the lights on, it also improves health and education, spurs economic growth and creates jobs.’
‘UK is determined to play its part’